Locomotives of the Southern Pacific (Spotters Guide Book)

A few months ago, Mr. Jesse Costa was kind enough to contact me when I started my series of blog posts, and suggested that I post the information about SP Steam Engines (Part 1) classes using of his copy of Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, for Rail Fans and Model Builders from his collection, which he acquired from an estate sale.

Cover of Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

It would appear from the dates in side that this copy was "published" around 1950 based on revision dates on some of the drawings. This was produced by the SP for "modelers and railfans" of the 1940s and 1950s! How amazing is that? An copy of the "Official" spotters guide to SP steam. Mr. Costa, was not able to scan this historic book, but was happy to send it to me to be scanned.

Information Sheet 1, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

Each page is a single sided copy/print. Some of the binding has seen better days, so some of these scans required great care to get as much of the page flat as possible without further damaging the book.

I will be using selected pages from this book in my blog posts about SP Steam. By the time I post this page, I will have used what information is here to put into the previous posts where applicable.

Index

The first several pages are an Index for looking up engine numbers and determining what mechanical class the engine is a part of.  This varies compared to the usual classifications we're used to seeing for SP engines, in that alpha sub-classes are assigned based on rebuilds and other mechancical changes that were made to certain engines.  A copy of Southern Pacific Steam Compendium by Diebert-Strapac is always good to have on hand to cross reference this information against dates, etc. which I believe is more complete than the information here, however the Steam Compendium does not have these drawings, which I'll be showing here.

Index Sheet 1, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

Index Sheet 3, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

Index Sheet 5, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

Index Sheet 7, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

Index Sheet 9, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

Oddly enough, all the Index Pages are numbered with odd page numbers.  The copy of the book from J. Costa's collection does not contain the even numbered pages.  Several classes of engine shown above are not covered in the drawings below.  Perhaps someone out there has the other half of these drawings and would like to share them.

Engine Classes

The book lists the engines starting alphabetically, so I'll be showing them the same way here.

AC-Class (4-8-8-2 & 2-8-8-4)

AC-8 class, SP 4191 leading a freight on the Modoc Line, Eddie Sims Collection

I'll be discussing the AC-series engines in my Modeling SP Road Engines (Part 4) Articulated Steam blog post.

AC-4 & AC-5 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

AC-6 & AC-7 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

AC-8 & AC-9 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

AC-9a & AC-10 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

AC-11 & AC-12 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

C-Class (2-8-0)

SP 2746 with 90-R-7 tender, Eddie Sims Collection

I cover modeling these in my Modeling SP Road Switchers (Part 1) - Small Steam blog post.

C-5a & C-8 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

C-8a & C-9 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

C-9a & C-10 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

C-10b & C-10a Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

C-18 & C-18a Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

C-19 & C-19a Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

C-19b Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

F-Class (2-10-2) "Decks"

F-4 class, SP 3708 with 120-C-2 tender, Eddie Sims Collection.

I've covered the SP's "Decks" in my Modeling SP Road Engines (Part 3) Heavy Steam blog post.  I also go into the SP-type (4-10-2) engines, which are missing from this set of diagrams.  Another excellent source of information for both the F-classes and SP-classes is Southern Pacific Ten-Coupled Locomotives by Robert J. Chrurch, Signature Press, 2013.

F-1 & F-1a Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

F-3 & F-3a Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

F-4 & F-4a Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

F-4b& F-5 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

F-5a Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

GS-Class (4-8-4) "Golden State/General Service)

SP 4450 wearing 'As Delivered' Southern Pacific Lines with wartime headlight shield on No.99.  Eddie Sims Collection.

GS-1 & GS-2 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

GS-3 & GS-4 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

GS-5 & GS-5a Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

I would think that the difference between the GS-5 would be the 4458, and the GS-5a would be the 4459, which had different roller bearings installed.

GS-6 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

M-Class (2-6-0)

SP 1730 ready for another day of local freight and switching service, circa 1947-1954.  Eddie Sims Collection.

I cover modeling these in my Modeling SP Road Switchers (Part 1) - Small Steam blog post.

M-4 & M-4b Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

M-4c & M-6 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

M-6a & M-6b Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

M-6c & M-8 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

M-9 & M-9a Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

M-9b & M-11 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

Mk-Class (2-8-2) "Mikes"

SP 3218 with 120-SC-type tender, circa 1954. Eddie Sims Collection.

I cover modeling these in my Modeling SP Road Switchers (Part 2) - Medium Steam blog post.

Mk-2 & Mk-2a Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

Mk-4 & Mk-4a Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

Mk-4b & Mk-5 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

Mk-5a & Mk-5b Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

Mk-5c & Mk-6 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

Mk-6b & Mk-6a Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

Ex-EPSW Mk-7/8/9 & Acquired (2-8-2) "Mikes"

Mk-7 class, SP 3303, an ex-EPSW Mike refitted with a 120-SC-type tender, circa 1950-51. Eddie Sims Collection.

I cover modeling these in my Modeling SP Road Switchers (Part 2) - Medium Steam blog post.

Mk-7 & Mk-7a Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

 Mk-8 & Mk-9 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

Mk-9a & Mk-11 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

Mt-Class (4-8-2) "Mountain" or "Antelope"

Mt-4 class, SP 4350 pulls No.55 through Modesto in November 1951. Nolan Black Photo, Brian Black Collection.

Mt-1a & Mt-3 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

Mt-4 & Mt-5 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

MM-3 Class (2-6-6-2) Articulated Mogul - Compound

The two engines of this class, SP 3930 and 3931 were purchased second hand from the Verde Tunnel & Smelter Ry. of Arizona in 1943 and vacated in 1954 and 1951 respectively.  They were very similar to WP 201-class, but were never simplified, and remained Mallet-Compounds until the end working between Taylor (LA) Yard and Colton with heavy slow drags of cars between the yards.

MM-3 Class Engines, Locomotives of the Southern Pacific, J. Costa Collection

In Closing

Well, that wraps up this page about the Locomotives of the Southern Pacific.

SP 4255 Splits the ABS signals between Tunnels 1 & 2 at La Mesa Model Railroad Club, in San Diego, CA.

Hopefully this page will provide further insight for the "Railfans and Modelers" in the 21st Century as it was intended to for those of the 20th Century.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

Modeling SP Road Switchers (Part 1) - Small Steam

Modeling SP Road Switchers (Part 2) - Medium Steam

Modeling SP Road Engines (Part 3) Heavy Steam

Tender Swapping (Part 1) - A Game for the Prototype Modeler

Busy Times in Bakersfield (Part 1)